North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

 

Summary (from the publisher): Written at the request of Charles Dickens, North and South is a book about rebellion; it poses fundamental questions about the nature of social authority and obedience. Gaskell expertly blends individual feeling with social concern, and her heroine, Margaret Hale, is one of the most original creations of Victorian literature.

When Margaret Hale's father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience she is forced to leave her comfortable home in the tranquil countryside of Hampshire and move with her family to the fictional industrial town of Milton in the north of England. Though at first disgusted by her new surroundings, she witnesses the brutality wrought by the Industrial Revolution and becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers. Sympathetic to the poor she makes friends among them and develops a fervent sense of social justice. She clashes with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, who is contemptuous of his workers. However, their fierce opposition masks a deeper attraction.

Gaskell based her depiction of Milton on Manchester, where she lived as the wife of a Unitarian minister. She was an accomplished writer, much of her work published in Charles Dickens' magazine Household Words including North and South which was originally published as a serial. She was also friends with Charlotte Brontë and after her death, her father, Patrick Brontë, chose Gaskell to write The Life of Charlotte Brontë.

Review: Young Margaret Hale has lived a charmed life as vicar's daughter in the countryside of Hampshire. But when her father decides to leave the church over a crisis of his conscience, she finds herself moving to the industrial town of Milton in the north of England. Missing her country home, she is shocked by the brutal life of the mill workers who live in abject poverty and takes an instant dislike to mill owner John Thornton and rejects his pursual of her. 

This is very much a novel of the Industrial Revolution and the clash of opinions and perspectives between the south and north of England. Margaret gets to know several people from the working-class group, and I admired her steadfast belief that more ought to be done to improve their living. 

And this is also a love story full of misunderstandings. I was really taken with John Thornton and how down bad he is for Margaret. Although deeply wounded by her rejection of him, he can't quite let her go. I loved the scene of him running through the streets carrying a massive basket of fruit for her ailing mother. I have seen this described as an Industrial Revolution version of Pride and Prejudice and I have to say the description is rather apt. There is significant overlap in the love story and the way it unfolds. However, poor Margaret Hale does experience a lot of grief and tragedy and certainly goes about trying to exact much more social reform than Elizabeth Bennett ever did. There is a lot of death in this book, and it felt heavy at times. 

I do wish the novel hadn't ended somewhat abruptly! I would have really enjoyed more scenes of the pair together, after so many agonizing hundreds of pages waiting for them to work things out. I also would have loved some scenes of John's mother accepting Margaret in her life ha. 

I listened to the audible narration of this book by Juliet Stevenson, and she did a phenomenal job breathing such life into this story. I was quite captivated!

Stars: 4